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THE winners of an annual
trans-Tasman competition
to find the best-performing
dairy business shared their key
drivers of profitability with a
large crowd at their property for
the BNZ Dairy Business of the
Year field day recently.
Dave and Sue Forsythe beat
12 other finalists and were
named supreme winners of the
2009 BNZ Dairy Business of the
Year as well as taking out the
Waikato/Bay of Plenty section
and the high supplement farm
systems category.
They went head-to-head with
the Australian supreme winner
and claimed the trans-Tasman
Business of the year title.
Hayden Dillon, senior partner
of BNZ Partners Hamilton, said
the day was a fantastic chance
for business people to learn how
the Forsythes run their business
and why they are so successful.
"It is an honour to be sponsor-
ing such an award which is
based around the decisions you
make as business people and
how to get the best returns --
congratulations to Dave and Sue
for their amazing effort as trans-
Tasman winners.
"If any of you here are
thinking about entering next
year's competition I strongly
encourage you to do so -- you
have nothing to lose and every-
thing to gain."
David Beca, managing direc-
tor of Red Sky Agricultural said
the day was about sharing infor-
mation and learning from one
another.
He said we are living in pretty
challenging times at the
moment, but we have been here
before and the industry is still
fundamentally strong.
"I have an enormous amount
of faith in the dairy industry, but
there are certainly some chal-
lenges. It is a good time to settle
down and work hard on your
business."
Mr Beca said the competition,
run in both New Zealand and
Australia on exactly the same
criteria, was about identifying
the farmers that have performed
the best on a return on capital
and operating profit per hectare
basis.
"It is those people who have
taken the resources at their dis-
posal at the start of the season
and returned the most in that
year."
Forsythe View, a 243ha farm
south of Te Awamutu, comprises
185 effective hectares in dairy-
ing, 35ha in trees and 23ha of
steeper land for dry stock.
The herd consists of 1050 pre-
dominantly Friesian and
Friesian/Jersey cross and all dry
cows are grazed on the farm.
Ten years ago the Forsythes
built a feed pad and introduced
supplementary feed growing 5ha
of maize the first year and 12ha
in the second. They kept on
going and became more
involved with Soren Moller
from Intelact.
Cows are fed PKE,
potatoes/chip waste, maize
silage, cheese whey from OCC,
corn steeped liquor, kiwifruit
and grass silage.
The target is to fully feed the
milking cows with the most cost
effective feed available, trying to
keep their diet consistent and
minimise wastage on the loading
area and feedpad.
They are in their fourth season
supplying OCC and the cows are
42 The Dairyman NOVEMBER 2009
NEWS
milked through a 36 aside her-
ringbone dairy and a 24 aside
herringbone for antibiotic and
colostrum cows which are also
housed and fed in a herd home.
Matt and Lynne Dods are
employed as contract milkers
and they have six support staff --
four from the Philippines.
The farm philosophy
includes: grow and utilise as
much grass a possible; be a pre-
ferred supplier of a consistent
volume of top quality milk, year
round; be proactive; think out-
side the square; and treat
employees fairly and with
respect.
They expect honesty and
integrity from their employees
and enjoy the challenge of dairy
farming but believe in looking
after the environment and por-
traying dairy farming in a posi-
tive manner.
Sue said Dave was deter-
mined and very single minded,
and that financials are his pas-
sion.
"He enjoys knowing exactly
what's going on and I think it
has been pretty vital over the
years," she said.
"We've had some hairy
moments when money has been
a bit short but you get through
that by being careful and know-
ing exactly where you are with
the bank."
The year of the competition
was judged during the
2007/2008 summer drought.
Milking 820 cows the previ-
ous season, they purchased cows
that spring, bringing numbers up
to 1050 to take advantage of the
By Rachel
McNaughton
Chief reporter
Trans-Tasman winners share their secrets
Dave and Sue Forsythe.
FREEPHONE: 0800 666 754
CONTACT: Guy Pilkington 021 371 829
gd_pilkington@xtra.co.nz
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